User:Phenelzine

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Short Biography
I’m currently an undergraduate student pursuing a dual concentration in both chemical and bioengineering. I’m a self described autodidact. My interests are as far ranging as libertarian socialism to ancient Near Eastern historiography. Most recently, I’ve gained a profound interest in Western philosophical schools of thought, and as such, I have allocated a great deal of my spare time to their pursuit. Some philosophers I'm interested in at the moment include Aristotle, Bakunin, Chomsky, Churchland, Dennett, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Kropotkin, Locke, Proudhon, Searle, Stirner, Wittgenstein. Due to the hectic nature of my current schedule, I’ll only be on Wikipedia on and off as time permits, but I would love to encourage other users to either contact me via email or my talk page as I’m eager to meet other Wikipedia editors!

Books I'm Currently Reading

 * Renoir, My Father by Jean Renoir


 * The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker


 * What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell


 * The Etruscans: Art, Architecture, and History by Federica Borrelli


 * Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life by Daniel Dennett


 * What Is Intelligence? Beyond the Flynn Effect by James Flynn

Favourite Quotes
If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. Vincent Van Gogh

Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them! Albert Einstein

A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. Max Planck

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. James Madison

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage. Maya Angelou

Much more than our other needs and endeavors, it is sexuality that puts us on an even footing with our kind: the more we practice it, the more we become like everyone else: it is in the performance of a reputedly bestial function that we prove our status as citizens: nothing is more public than the sexual act. E. M. Cioran

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. Oscar Ameringer

Here is the beginning of philosophy: a recognition of the conflicts between men, a search for their cause, a condemnation of mere opinion .. . and the discovery of a standard of judgement. Epictetus